Thread by @PnictogenHorses

#geopolitical tedium is not for me. I like the world of ordinary matter and energy (and physics and chemistry and all of it) far too much. I like tools and instruments and equipment, and knowing how to use them. fretting about #Russia or #China is not my highest priority.

(1/x)

yet American #politics and political #media have completely inundated popular culture—because @jack Dorsey and #MarkZuckerberg permitted the politicization of #Internet #socialmedia. on specious grounds they kicked down the door between "public" and "private" online.

(2/x)

now, both @TheDemocrats and the @GOP, both @UKLabour and the @Conservatives, and political parties and political figures all over the world freely do business in full public view; @elonmusk openly conspires with @mtaibbi and @lhfang and @bariweiss in full public view.

(3/x)

whatever excuses and rationalizations about being "apolitical" Zuckerberg and @jack may blather to the contrary, @Twitter is a political instrument because of them. effectively it's an arm of corporate #media now; "Twitter famous" and "real famous" have blurred together.

(4/x)

they *created* conditions under which a rogue like @elonmusk is possible: @jack permitted political fights to spill over onto @Twitter, and now #Twitter (with the enthusiastic participation of corporate #journalism) is a political football—one that the @GOP hopes to seize.

(5/x)

Republican politicians suck up to Musk on Twitter; #conservative mouthpieces, ranging from the solemn right-wing "research institutes" like @Heritage and @BrookingsInst to mere mudslinging brigands like @realchrisrufo and @JackPosobiec, praise @elonmusk as The Future.

(6/x)

@elonmusk is something that the @GOP and "movement #conservatism" needs: the illusion of youth.

the right-wing base is mostly sour old men of business, so they need celebrities who at least *seem* like they're fresh and young. even @RonDeSantisFL is better than average.

(7/x)

Musk (to me anyway) presents an unpleasant aspect of curdled fratboy immaturity; he's three years older than us, yet behaves online like he's in high school. he attracts fans of a similar mettle. @mtaibbi, even older than Musk, is a good example—still trying to live fast.

(8/x)

one thing is certain about the @elonmusk / @mtaibbi / @MrAndyNgo midlife crisis crowd: these people play #games. *lots of games*.

they play tedious social games and devious political games, sure, but they also play _video games_. they can take over the galaxy ever night.

(9/x)

...which brings me back to #geopolitical tedium.

there's a whole heap of computer games and simulations of global politics, world war and international strife. (not just video games of course; we ourselves have played a tabletop game of this caliber, #Pandemic Legacy.)

(10/x)

beyond doubt, the terminally superficial "influencer" culture, embodied in brazen media celebrities like @mtaibbi and @bariweiss and @jonathanchait—a culture that maintains the brash and arrogant posture you'd expect from immature stockbrokers—plays global strategy games.

(11/x)

...and that's not good, because the sort of person who genuinely thinks that @elonmusk is a science wizard who's destined to be King of #Mars one day (i.e. the @Timcast / @stillgray crowd) isn't likely to be very good at telling *game* reality from material reality.

(12/x)

and ALL of these people think they're subtle and "nuanced" experts on foreign policy—which the puerile @mtaibbi / @lhfang / @elonmusk gang is quite likely to consider much more *fun* and *exciting* than dreary domestic conflicts and #GlobalWarming and other boring things.

(13/x)

(this by the way is partly why the @GOP and the American right wing went so gaga for @RonaldReagan, who was himself gaga: his "second childhood" and petulant behaviors gave him a bizarre patina of childlike fun. Nancy Davis and @PMThatcher functioned as surrogate moms.)

(14/x)

it's also to be remembered that the seething *cynicism* of the @mtaibbi / @bariweiss crowd means that they've no particular loyalty to the nation. indeed the American right wing and the @GOP openly regard the United States as failed and fatally corrupt, not worth saving.

(15/x)

these people have soft and pampered lives, cushioned by money and social privilege; they are *rootless* people. @mtaibbi and @ShellenbergerMD and the rest don't really have homes; they jet from place to place, and live out of top-notch hotels and restaurants and bars.

(16/x)

so! we have trivial celebrity culture #journalism, populated by folks like Matt Taibbi and Matt Yglesias and Jesse Singal—privileged and cynical people who carry on like they're still in college goofing off in the computer lab, playing games with nations and star systems.

(17/x)

these @mtaibbi / @lhfang people don't really believe in anything but money and power; they're bored by the humdrum affairs of ordinary American life and the crisis of #capitalism's imminent breakdown.

and thanks to @elonmusk they're even a bit sick of Earth herself.

(18/x)

then a nice Russian man who once bailed @realDonaldTrump out of a business embarrassment, with a persuasive sales patter about shared enemies and the Chinese peril, tells @mtaibbi that he can be of discreet *assistance*, and maybe there's some awkward photos.

does Matt Taibbi:

just a thought, Messrs. @mtaibbi and @elonmusk. pure speculation. after all I am just a silly unicorn, not a @MotherJones reporter.

~Mona Drafter of Pnictogen

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